If you take away the third, fourth and fifth innings, the Indians pitching staff threw great in Sunday’s game; however, three awful relief innings by AZL Indians relief pitcher Anthony Vizcaya spelled “doom” for the Tribe, as they got pummeled by the AZL Rangers 8-2.

The weather is not the only thing that is hot in Arizona these days. The relief pitching was strong and everyone around the lineup contributed in a hard-fought, 6-4 victory over the AZL Reds (3-11) on Saturday evening at Goodyear Ballpark.

The AZL Indians extended their win streak to four games on Friday night, cruising by their complex rival AZL Reds by a count of 11-3. The offense propelled the AZL Indians, as Tribe hitters pounded out 13 hits and managed to put together a seven run, two out rally in the third to push the game out of reach early.

A very happy Fourth of July to you! We at IBI hope you had a great holiday and enjoyed a little time off. There was no time off in the minor leagues Thursday, as all of Cleveland's affiliates were in action. Some did a little worse than others (like a pair of four-hit outings in Columbus and Carolina), though there were plenty of good performances, including some impressive pitching and hitting in Lake County. To read all about Thursday in the minor leagues, join Jim Piascik and go Around The Farm.

A very Happy Fourth of July to all of the IBI readers! What better to celebrate our independence than good food, fireworks, and another edition of Minor Happenings! In today’s abbreviated version of the Happenings on the Indians farm (still over 2300 words), Tony takes a long look at the emerging star that is second baseman Joey Wendle and just how good of a prospect he really is for the Indians. He also provides tons of comments from Ross Atkins on Clint Frazier, Mitch Brown, Kieran Lovegrove, Juan Herrera, and many others.

In what is becoming an uncomfortable theme thus far on the season, the AZL Indians blew another lead in the late innings, but managed to come back and top the AZL Royals by a count of 4-3 Wednesday night at the Indians’ facility in Goodyear. The victory was largely due to the success of Joel and Francisco Mejia, who combined for three of the AZL Indians’ seven hits and three of their four runs on the night.

Sometimes greatness can spoil people. Francisco Lindor could spend almost every night atop Around The Farm, though sometimes we can take his all-around excellence for granted. Lindor is one of the transcendent prospects in the game of baseball and is the kind of talent every team wants in its system. The shortstop was at it again Wednesday night, along with plenty of other players throughout the system. To read all about them, join Jim Piascik as he goes Around The Farm.

In this week’s first edition of Minor Happenings, Tony takes a look at the big month that outfielder Carlos Moncrief had and just what kind of prospect he is for the Indians. He also checks in on the progress that right-handed pitcher Dylan Baker is making this season, provides several comments from the front office on players in the upper levels like Bryan Price, Jose Ramirez, Jose Flores, Ronny Rodriguez, Enosil Tejeda and others, and offers up updates and insight into the development of Toru Murata, Shawn Morimando, Juan Romero, Anderson Polanco and more!

Before the calendar flipped to July, the AZL Indians found ways to get locked into some wild contests. Their erratic play continued Tuesday night, as they again went into extra innings against the AZL Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields and came away with a 7-5 win.

The Indians got a sensational performance on the mound on Sunday from Low-A right-handed pitcher Dylan Baker, and he has really strung together some good starts of late. Tony touches on him and many other players that were in action on Sunday from Akron to Arizona.

The AZL Indians treated all who attended their game Friday night in Surprise, Arizona to nine innings of relatively boring baseball. It might have been the 110° desert heat, or possibly that they didn’t have enough gas left in the tank after their 12-11 victory over the AZL Padres on Thursday, but whatever it was, the Indians could not muster up any offense in a 6-1 loss to the Rangers.

In today’s third edition of Minor Happenings, Tony takes a look at the encouraging performance of short season Single-A Mahoning Valley infielder Claudio Bautista and what kind of prospect he truly is for the Indians. He also provides a ton of quotes and insight from Ross Atkins on several players at Double-A Akron like Ronny Rodriguez, Carlos Moncrief, Austin Adams and others, talks about the changes Will Roberts is working on, the injury to Luigi Rodriguez, and more.

In the midst of a three game slide, the AZL Indians looked to get back in the win column Thursday night against the visiting AZL Padres. The game featured a little bit of everything including home runs, bloopers, wild pitches, and sloppy errors, but the AZL Indians were able to prevail in a wild affair.

A few pitching hiccups at the beginning and end of the AZL Indians’ game proved to be costly, as the Indians fell to the Brewers 9-8 in extra innings Wednesday night at Goodyear Ballpark, and extended the Indians’ losing streak to three games.

In today’s second edition of Minor Happenings for the week, Tony takes a look at the emergence of two high profile pitching prospects in Mahoning Valley with Caleb Hamrick and Luis Lugo. He also provides several comments from the front office on players at High-A Carolina, the strides that Ronny Rodriguez continues to make, the prospect standing of Jerrud Sabourin, the injury concerns of Matt LaPorta, the inconsistency that Luis DeJesus is working through, the big pro debut of Clint Frazier and more.

After a solid opening weekend, the AZL Indians kicked off their second week of play Tuesday against the AZL Brewers. Tuesday also marked the professional debut of the Indians 2013 first round draft pick, Clint Frazier, and he certainly demonstrated why the Indians chose to take him with the fifth overall selection.

In today’s special edition of Minor Happenings, Tony provides a ton of updates and comments from the Indians front office on the likes of Shawn Morimando, Eric Haase, Cody Penny, Louis Head, Caleb Hamrick, Luis Lugo and others, finds out what Clint Frazier is up to and when he will make his pro debut, provides a ton of injury updates on the likes of Alex Monsalve, LeVon Washington, Elvis Araujo, Shawn Armstrong and the whereabouts of Dillon Howard, and takes a look at the recent good play of Bryce Stowell and Yhoxian Median.

Up and down throughout the entire Cleveland Indians organization on Saturday night, teams exhibited a certain flair for the dramatics, as four teams each won their respective games by one run. In the scorching 106° desert heat, the AZL Indians turned in, possibly, the most entertaining performance of the night, as they rode strong pitching and clutch hitting to a walk-off win over the AZL Dodgers 4-3.

With revenge on their minds, the AZL Dodgers rode clutch hitting and strong relief pitching to a 4-1 victory over the AZL Indians Sunday night at Camelback Ranch. A relatively slow start hitting-wise for both teams, the Dodgers overcame a few defensive and pitching miscues in the early stages of the game, and managed to shut the Tribe down when it mattered most.

Over two months into the major league baseball season, the AZL Indians, the Cleveland Indians rookie league affiliate, kicked off their Arizona League season Thursday against their complex rival, the AZL Reds. Early season jitters and rust were apparent for the Indians throughout the game, starting in the top of the first inning, as the team ultimately lost 9-4. .

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!